Time: Wednesday, 03/Sept/2025: 9:00am - 10:30am Session Chair: Hila Zahavi Discussant: Foteini Asderaki |
The Internationalisation of European Studies
Over the past decades, European Integration Studies, which have ventured to understand the phenomenon of supranational governance in Europe (Rosamond, 2009), have increasingly developed into an independent academic discipline. This panel (based on an edited volume to be published in 2025) provides an overview of the development and internationalisation of this discipline across several European Member States and third countries. The panel reflects on the status of research and teaching of European Integration Studies and the shape and degree of European Integration Studies in the curriculum of these countries. In addition, it aims at furthering the discussions and the debates surrounding European Integration Studies in the researched countries. In doing so, the panel offers a useful, original, and, we hope, significant contribution to important disciplinary and educational matters. The panel promotes the increasing diversity of perspectives employed in European Integration Studies and it includes papers by leading scholars in the field of European Integration Studies.
The proposed panel lies at the intersection between international relations and international organizations – European Union, Global Governance – and global education – European Integration Studies, Education Policy.
Presentations of the Symposium
European Studies in Poland. From familiarizing Europe to battles for the future of the country.
European Studies became a popular teaching and research area in Poland in the 1990s overlapping with the process of the EU enlargement that the country applied for in 1994. The significant facilitating factor for developing curricula of European studies and research agendas were coming from pre-Enlargement funding opportunities by the EU such as the Tempus programme. European studies continued to be popular for the first years after Poland became a member of the EU. At the same time, the research in European studies in leading academic centres such as Warsaw or Jagiellonian Universities, became competitive on the European research area. In recent years – after 2015 when Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS - Law and Justice) populist and Eurosceptic party came to power – European Studies became a battlefield of more pro-European views and research agendas clashing with those promoted by the government more nationalistic agendas and education focus. Against this background, the paperer discusses – using normative power Europe, Europeanisation and politicisation approaches – the status of European Studies in contemporary Poland and captures key debates around the EU and Europe in the country. Additionally, we focus on key aspects of the internationalization of European Studies, the role of international networks in developing the field, and factors determining that some research areas are more profound in Poland.
European Integration Studies in Portugal
The paper addresses Portuguese European integration studies. As a follow up of a previous publication, the topic broadly (but not exhaustively) covers academic production for a period starting in 2011. The chapter also studies academic and research structures underlying Portuguese based European integration studies. The thread running throughout the text is the hypothesis of an ever-growing autonomy of this academic area in the national scenario, taking place within a Europeanisation framework, which in the end is proven. However, the strong connection of European studies with the field of political science and international relations also becomes evident from the data presented.
The History and Importance of EU Studies in Israel
This paper examines the history and significance of European integration studies in Israel, offering insights into how ‘the local’ impacts Normative Power Europe. We argue that while the European Commission promoted the development of European integration studies in Israel, it simultaneously responded to local Israeli cultural filters and drew insights from both Israeli and European scholars. The chapter demonstrates how European integration studies effectively strengthened Israeli-EU relations, connected Israeli scientific research and development to European initiatives, and highlighted the EU’s importance to Israeli higher education institutions for their future academic endeavors.